Articles – Page 55 – Colin Harkness on Wine

Bodegas Enrique Mendoza

BODEGAS ENRIQUE MENDOZA

DO ALICANTE

Alfaz del Pi is, what, just two kilometres inland from the Mediterranean and about the same distance north of Benidorm? Suffice to say that it’s location is very convenient for everybody living from Alicante to Denia and beyond. I say this because this is where you’ll find the founding father of DO Alicante wine and, honestly, Bodegas Enrique Mendoza is well worth a visit! (www.bodegasmendoza.com)

I discovered to my horror recently that it’s several years since I wrote about this leading DO Alicante bodega. It’s a disgrace – and that’s what I said on a recent Youtube video I’ve recorded as part of my series on Spanish wines etc (www.youtube.com search Colin Harkness On Wine). Here’s me living but 25 minutes away, writing about wines from all over Spain, but maybe neglecting those that are made on my doorstep!

Well I called Pepe Mendoza, son of the founding Enrique to apologies and ask if he’d be interested in an article about the winery and the wines. A few days later a selection of wines from the formidable portfolio arrived on that very same doorstep. And what a delight!

Pepe’s father was largely responsible for putting DO Alicante on the wine making map of Spain and his family have taken on the role now, expanding the name of Bodegas Enrique Mendoza not only throughout Spain, but in the export market as well. Mendoza wines were the first and other bodegas following in their footsteps have been able to benefit from the success of the winery that first introduced DO Alicante and it’s quality to an appreciative global market.

Over the years I’ve probably tasted all of the wines on their portfolio, though not all the vintages of course. So, to receive a case of wines to taste, most of which I know, but whose vintages I hadn’t yet tasted, was a delight. You’ll be delighted as well!

Using a combination of indigenous varieties as well as international grapes there is a fine choice of mono-varietal wines as well as blends. When oak is used, it’s used judiciously and according to the style of the wines post fermentation. Some may require a longer time in oak to get the best out of the grapes, some less time.

Enrique Mendoza Petit Verdot 2012 has enjoyed 15 months in oak – 10 in American and then 5 in French oak. The grapes for this wine, as with all the other reds, and indeed most of the Mendoza wines, do not come from vineyards so close to the sea. Imagine the temperature in the vineyards during July and August – it’s boiling here. So too at night, when although the temperature does drop, it’s still hot throughout the dark hours.

Regular readers will know of course that this is a recipe for dull, flabby wines with too much alcohol. This is why the Mendoza vines are mostly grown way inland where there is considerable altitude which cools the night temperatures sufficiently for the grapes to develop their essential acidity.

The wine has not been highly filtered or clarified so as not to lose any of its soul. This can result in a slight deposit forming in the bottle over time – but don’t worry about that. Pour carefully, just in case, and you’ll be rewarded. You’ll find a deeply coloured red wine with a slight vegetal nose beneath some glorious damson fruit. It’s fruit led and driven with a lovely fruit filled finish. The oak has given the wine extra weight and complexity and there is a mid-length finish.

Monastrell is a favoured variety in this part of Spain. Here it teams up with Merlot, and the 2011 vintage has been placed in French and American oak again, but this time for just 12 months. On the nose there are rich black plums with a slight floral note too and just a touch of minerality. This wine is drinking perfectly now and has perhaps another year left at its best.

One wouldn’t normally think of Cabernet Sauvignon as a hot climate variety. Although it’s an international traveller, Cabernet’s natural home might be considered to be Bordeaux where the weather is of course markedly different to that in Alicante. And yet if looked after in the vineyards and harvested relatively early this dark black grape can really show off it’s ripeness under the Mediterranean sun!

Enrique Mendoza Cabernet Sauvignon/Monastrell, like the above, is a sort of French/Spanish blend – but grown at altitude under many hours of Spanish sunshine. It’s perfectly ripe – making it juicy with lots of blackcurrant, bramble and plum fruit. It’s also had 12 months in French and American oak making the wine a little fuller on the palate with a depth of flavour and the odd whiff of vanilla and coconut.

And talking of Cabernet – Santa Rosa 2011 is a really super wine. The flagship of the winery, this elegant Cabernet (70%) Merlot and Shiraz mix is a wine that, although the grapes are French in origin, would make lots of French wineries quite envious!

The Cabernet has obviously been picked at the optimum time – the grapes were fully ripened but retained their crucial acidity. Lots of blackcurrant aroma and flavour. There’s a fleeting minty aroma about the with some stony minerality and a touch of forest-floor undergrowth too. Then add some rich dark cherry from the Shiraz with a touch of spice and you really have a cracking wine!

Now – I did, did I not, say that this wine is the flagship wine of the bodega? Well, Bodegas Enrique has a challenger for this title now.

I first tasted Las Quebrades Monastrell 2010 some time ago at our great friend John’s house. He’d spoken with Pepe a few days before at the bodega building in Alfaz and had received a bottle with a hand written label, drawn straight out of the barrel! I was impressed then with the wine as it was, but more so with its undeniable potential.

The finished product is now available in a heavy Burgundy style bottle and it’s lovely! It’s a single estate wine made 100% from 70 years old Monastrell vines. It’s had 15 months exclusively in French oak, which adds to the wines overall elegance. On first hit on the palate, you’d be forgiven for initially thinking it perhaps a little insubstantial – wait a few seconds and this super, soft wine will take over your senses.

I’ve just tasted it – perhaps five minutes ago and I can still ‘feel’ it, still enjoy its fruit and slight dark chocolate, plum finish. I still have the aroma – plums and black cherries with a slightly more pronounced mineral note and some sweet liquorice as it finally fades! Super wine!

And these, of course, are only some of the wines made by the Family Mendoza!

Contact Colin: colin@colinharknessonwine.com and through his unique wine services website www.colinharknessonwine.com as well as via Twitter @colinonwine.

Also for wine videos www.youtube.com search Colin Harkness On Wine.

Bodegas Fariña, DO Toro

BODEGAS FARIÑA, DO TORO

CHATEAU MOUTON ROTHSCHILD IT’S NOT

– I’M DELIGHTED TO SAY!

When visiting Bordeaux a few years ago our friend arranged a couple of Châteaux visits. He knew that I am involved in the wine world and that Claire used to teach English to several of the Directors of a number of the Châteaux. We were both very keen – the more so when we learned that one of the Châteaux was the world famous and super-elite Mouton Rothschild!

I felt sorry for our host, the visit was dreadful. It’s not the wine that I didn’t like – of course! It was the nature of the visit.

Our guide was pretty in looks, and pretty hopeless in guiding! Clearly she had no real idea about wine – oh yes, she’d read and learned the guiding manual and regurgitated it efficiently for our small group. But that was it! There was no back-up knowledge, no ability to answer sensible questions, no real interest and certainly no passion (for wine, I mean!).

What an amazing contrast I’ve just experienced at the family owned Bodegas Fariña, founding winery of DO Toro! I’ve never had a better wine tour and it’s unlikely I ever will!

I have to admit that ours perhaps wasn’t the norm – for a start our ‘guide’ was Nicola (from Sheffield, but we forgave her!) who is in fact the Export Director of the company and travels the globe, promoting Fariña wines, of course, but also the whole DO Toro. She really should be on the Consejo Regulador’s payroll!

Another example of why ours was probably not the regular wine tourism visit (though I’m certain that this is excellent too!) was also Nicola related. We met her at the winery at 11:00 hrs where she jumped onto our coach and took us to the vineyards. She left us at about midnight at the last of the bars which forms the DO Toro Ruta del Vino! Now that is well above the call of duty! Thirteen hours – amazing, and really appreciated!

I first met Nicola when I was part of a triumvirate running the CB Wine Club. She was then working for another DO Toro winery and similarly enthusiastic about their wines too – that’s the nature of this enterprising young lady! It wasn’t long before she was headhunted, by the Fariña family where I guess she has now been for about 15 years.

Our first wine, tasted in almost freezing temperatures, which in fact none of us minded, so warming was Nicola’s presentation and passion, was a sparkling wine – a surprise to me. Aromatic with some yeasty notes and a floral tone running throughout, it’s made with Malvasia, as is the Fariña still white wine. A good start.

She told us of the family’s influence on wine making in the area and of how Señort Fariña single-handedly convinced the powers that be in Madrid to grant the area Denominación de Origen status. DO Toro was now on the Spanish wine map – and after consistent success, particularly in the export market (no surprise there, as Nicola has clearly made a huge impact), the Fariña name became established.

This success made others believe they could do the same and there are now several bodegas making top class wine – including the equal most expensive wine in Spain! Rags to riches, or what? And it couldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for the Fariña family.

So, does that mean that Fariña wines are scarily expensive? Not a bit of it – the mantra here is value for money, always, from flagship to entry level, an excellent price/quality ratio.

For example, back at the bodega, where a large tasting room had been prepared for us, we were all knocked out by the pretty colour, the loganberry aroma and strawberry/raspberry flavour of the Colegiata Rosado – disbelieving, at first, it’s modest 4€ only price tag!

We tasted all the Fariña wines (that’s a large portfolio and there won’t be space to include them all here) – six or so at a relatively formal tasting and the rest over a magnificent, traditional lunch. Of course, we each had our favourites, but there wasn’t one that was disappointing.

The much loved variety in DO Toro is Tinta de Toro (aka Tempranillo). The soils and micro-climate of Toro are so different from La Rioja, which many think of as Tempranillo’s natural home, that we could all be forgiven for thinking it a different variety altogether.

Many years ago the name of the variety that had adapted so well to Toro was not known – so, the pragmatic locals called it simply ‘Tinta de Toro’, not realising that it was actually Tempranillo. The name stuck.

The grape produced here is almost unrecognisable from that produced from the same variety in Rioja and indeed in other areas of Spain. It’s smaller with a thicker skin, thus the red Toro wines are very dark in colour. At night there is a dramatic drop in temperature during the growing season, causing the berries to dilate and contract which changes the aromatic profile.

Primero is a young wine – it’s the first wine to be produced by the bodega each year, and like Beaujolais Nouveaux its arrival on the shelves is trumpeted far and wine. However, unlike most Beaujolais Nouveaux, this is a quality wine! Also, on the label it proudly displays a reproduction of the winning entry in the annual Abstract Art Competition. Carbonic Maceration makes this wine typically fruit driven.

Priced at just 4€ the Colegiata Tinta de Toro is all dark berry on the nose and palate with some lovely violet aromas and delightful liquorice twist on the finish. Gran Colegiata Roble has some oak as this wine is also used to ‘seal’ new oak barrels ready for making the top wines in the following year. It’s a win-win-wine situation as this partially aged wine gains a rich and fruity depth whilst preparing the barrels for the finer wine to come!

At lunch, the flagship wines were served – the Gran Colegiata Reserva 2008 priced at an amazing value for money 12€; and for me, the wine I most love from this excellent bodega, Gran Colegiata Campus! Some might think that at 22€ this is an expensive wine, but I assure you, if this wine was made in another, supposedly more illustrious area, it would probably command twice the price! It’s top class!

You’ll be able to read more about Bodegas Fariña and the wines I haven’t had the space to mention at www.bodegasfarina.com . You’ll also be able to buy! You can also read a little more about DO Toro and its part in Columbus’ discovery of the Americas on my blog – www.colinharknessonwine.com click Blog.

Contact Colin: colin@colinharknessonwine.com and via Twitter @colinonwine. Also don’t forget to view Colin’s Youtube videos: www.youtube.com search Colin Harkness On Wine!

Dolce Divas Concert – the Wines!

WINES FOR DOLCE DIVAS CONCERT

It’s quite an honour to be asked to recommend and source the wines for a Classical Music Concert. I’m grateful for the opportunity to do so, provided by the Javea International Baptist Church for their Easter Concert, featuring the beautiful music of the equally beautiful Dolce Divas!

However, I’ll admit, it wasn’t a difficult task! Firstly I knew I would soon be travelling to Bodegas Fariña, DO Toro (more on this superb visit soon!) where I would surely be able to find either a red or a rosado of suitable quality.

Secondly, I’d also be visiting DO Rueda and considering that every 3·6 bottles (don’t you love statistics!?) of white wine sold in Spain comes from this amazing rags to riches area of production, it was clear that there would a plethora of white wines from which to choose.

And of course there was always my good friends at Bodegas Castaño, DO Yecla, who, although they sell 97% of their wines abroad, still keep some for the domestic market. As I said, easy job!

Sauvignon Blanc is considered to be a French variety, it makes the wonderful Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé wines in Loire Valley. However the success of wines from these areas seemingly gave Sauvignon Blanc itchy feet. It travelled all over the world, and as we know it made more than a significant mark in New Zealand, from whence now hails, some would argue, the world’s best Sauvignon.

Let’s remember that Sauvignon’s passport has many stamps – one of which is from Spain, and in particular, the wine growing area to the north-west of Madrid, DO Rueda. Here, Sauvignon competes for vineyard space with the curiously similar (in some respects) local indigenous variety, Verdejo. And, as you’ve read here in Cork Talk, one of the bodegas in the vanguard of quality Rueda wine making using Verdejo is Palacio de Bornos.

They don’t do a bad Sauvignon, either! So it was this Bornos Sauvignon 2014 that I selected for the white wine offering (pun intended – offering, church, get it?!). Judging by the post concert comments, I think I got it right! Palacios de Bornos Sauvignon has all the classic characteristics of the Sauvignon that everyone wants to drink these days.

Highly perfumed: look for gooseberries, a touch of nettle and asparagus with some slightly under-ripe kiwi fruit (those New Zealanders again!) and a passing nod to fennel, it’s a super fruit driven, clean and refreshing dry white wine. If it’s not in your fridge already – do something about it, now! Well, immediately after you’ve read the rest of this column, at least!

Bodegas Fariña’s Rosado 2014 is made with their Tinta de Toro grape variety – though regular Cork Talk readers will know that this is really indicative of their homage to Spain’s most grown and loved variety, Tempranillo – as it’s the same grape by another name. A grape by any other name, would smell as sweet? Well, no, William, it’s not sweet, actually!

In the glass the wine has presence – it’s not a shrinking violet and it’s not the pallid pink that seems to be de rigeur these days. Darkly coloured, it’s a wine in the classic Spanish rosado category. I’ve often said that Spain champions rosé wine better than any other country. Known, primarily as a red wine country (though this is definie tly changing), it’s only natural that winemakers of the past would have also made rosado wines.

It’s a tradition that still holds sway. Look at any Spanish wine shop and supermarket and you’ll see lots of rosé wines for sale. It’s a difficult choice, so let me help a little. For example, Bodegas Fariña, a family owned and run winery in DO Toro, has an enviable reputation as a producer of top quality red wines, with a very fair pricing structure too.

Their Colegiata Rosado 2014 is a lovely, bright cherry colour and looks beautiful in the glass. Swirl and sniff and you’ll find lots of soft red fruit aromas, the primary one for me is loganberry – raspberry, with attitude! There’s a lurking strawberry presence as well as redcurrant and cherry that follow through onto the palate too.

The red wine I chose, was in fact that which I chose for my recent wedding – to the lovely Claire! Hécula, from Bodegas Castaño is the wine that put the bodega, and indeed DO Yecla on the world wine map! Sold at an incredible value for money 6 – 7€, Hécula received over 90 points for Americna wine guru, Rober Parker, the first time he tasted it – and it has consistenty in the early 90s since.

It’s made with Monastrell, the favoured variety of South East Spain, which, although exhibiting slightly different aroma and flavour profiles depending on where it’s grown – i.e. DOs Valencia, Alicante, Yecla, Bullas, Almansa and Jumilla – invariably produces super-juicy, fruit driven wine.

Monastrell (known as Mourvedre in France) is also happy to spend time in oak, which when judiciously handled adds an extra depth of flavour, of course, and complexity too – but always retaining the fruit presence. Hécula has had six months in French oak and the balance is, well, perfect, making it a lovely wine for drinking on its own as well as with food, light and dark meats as well as cheeses.

The JIBC (www.javeabaptist.com) members provided an excellent ‘Bring and Share’ tapas choice for post concert drinks and bites and I was delighted to receive positive wine comments on behalf of the bodegas above. Plus, it was a real pleasure to hear the praise heaped upon Dolce Divas (www.dolcedivas.net) for an excellent concert whilst the stars were also enjoying a glass (or two!) of wine!

Contact Colin: colin@colinharknessonwine.com and through his website www.colinharknessonwine.com and via Twitter @colinonwine.

Colin is also posting videos on Spanish wine – please see and hear more at www.youtube.com search Colin Harkness On Wine.

Annual Blevins Franks Wine Tasting

ANNUAL BLEVINS FRANKS WINE TASTING

@ DENIA MARRIOTT

Unfortunately I’ve never been in a position which required me to seek the assistance of a Financial Services company. If you have no money, you can’t invest it! However, if a small fortune ever did come my way (some hope!) there’s no doubt that I’d contact Blevins Franks, straight away.

I’m sure that their financial advice is excellent (indeed, I’ve heard nothing but praise) but, as you might imagine, it’s their annual wine tastings which attract my attention! A few years ago I was invited (by friends who remain clients of Blevins franks) to attend one of their tastings, their second, I believe, presented by my friend and colleague, Ed Adams MW (Master of Wine).

Ed is not only a Master of Wine, one of just over 300 MWs in the entire world, but he also puts his knowledge to practical use, by making wine up in the hills of Cataluña – and top wines they are too, excellent! I was impressed with the tasting and wondered if I’d ever be able to attend another.

You can imagine my delight when, a couple of years ago I was invited to present a tasting for clients of the Blevins Franks Office in Alfaz del Pi; and even more so when in March 2015 I was invited to do the same, this time in the plush Marriott Hotel.

Essentially the choice of wines was left to me. There was a budget of course, though this wasn’t restrictive at all – with the most expensive wine priced at around the 35€ mark! It was also a most generous tasting for their invitees – eight wines were listed, with a final, mystery wine to finish. Then any wine left over was to be consumed in the nearby Jazz Bar, with tapas to boot!

We started with Sparkling Wine (and this after the Sparkling wine aperitif, welcome drink!). The idea was to have wines served in pairs, with a view to giving tasters the opportunity to compare wines within the same category. With the aperitif fizz being a young, bright and refreshing Brut (like the paired wines to follow, coming from the Albet i Noya Bodega, Penedés), I thought it apt to taste their Reserva Brut alongside their Pinot Noir Rosado.

Clearly there’s an obvious comparison, one is white and the other rosé – but the contrast went deeper than that, of course. The Brut (approx 11€) has had the benefit of 18 months ‘en rima’, that’s stored upside-down with its lees (the dead yeast that was added to provoke the second fermentation). This is twice as long as the minimum allowed in the nearby DO Cava (please note that, although made largely by the same method, Albet i Noya sparklers are not Cava – regular readers will know something of the history of this), and 18 months is three more than the minimum allowed for Cava Reservas.

The wine is full bodied with depth of flavour and super, aged fizz aromas – and a long finish.

The Pinot Noir (approx 15€) has had 12 months ‘en rima’. This traditional Champagne grape variety also adds a flavour of its own. There are loganberry notes, with some strawberry too and again a depth of flavour complemented by some complexity.

The white wine pairing was one that I was looking forward to – I love the full range of Palacio de Bornos wines from DO Rueda, so it was difficult to choose! I went for the straight Verdejo 2014 (approx 5€), the wine that really made the bodega’s name, along with its elder sister the Verdejo Fermented en Barrica (approx 8€).

The comparison here was the same grape variety, but treated differently. The former was stainless steel fermented allowing the glorious fruit to be at the forefront in terms of aroma and flavour; and the latter, that same fruit but with the integrated, yet still noticeable, beneficial influence of the oak barrels in which it had been fermented and aged. Both excellent!

For the rosado wines I wanted to give the tasters an opportunity to taste, perhaps the best rosé wine in Spain – the darkly coloured Gran Caus Merlot! The contrast here was two fold – the other rosado is made with Bobal, indigenous to Valencia, but also made in such a way that the very pale pink, almost onion-skin coloured, rosé makes it a very different animal, in looks alone!

The delicate perfume of the Pasión de Bobal Rosado (approx 6€) suggested a delicate flavour on the palate, but rather than being a touch weak in taste, in comparison to the meaty Merlot, I’d prefer to term it elegant – and certainly the personification of prettiness in the glass. The Gran Caus has such a depth of flavour and oh so long finish, some might term it a wannabe red. This is rosé excellence (retailing at around 15€ so quite a lot more expensive than most, but trust me – it’s well worth it!).

I used a Bobal again for the first red – and from the same Bodegas Sierra Norte, DO Utiel-Requena. Deeply coloured with dark cherries emanating from the glass the moment it is poured, it too has elegance as well as the dynamism of youth. The comparison wine was wholly different. Elevated to the impressive position of a very close second wine (if not its equal) to Bodega’s Castaño’s superb Casa Cisca flagship, this second red is really excellent!

Casa de la Cera (approximately 35€) has Monastrell at its heart (50%) with Garnacha Tintorera, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot making up the rest of the blend. I love it!

The mystery wine was also made with Monastrell and also by Bodegas Castaño, DO Yecla. However, the mystery is that this wine is a ‘late harvest’. The grapes for such a wine are left on the vine for much longer than those destined to become dry wines. Harvested in November, the grapes look more like raisons. Some of the water content of the juice has been evaporated leaving less juice, but with a higher sugar content as the increased sunshine has over-ripened the grapes.

Dulce Monastrell Bodegas Castaño (approx 16€ for a 50cl bottle) is then aged for 6 months in French oak. The result is, well stunning! It’s a wonderful red dessert wine which is also happy with strong/blue cheeses – there is sweetness, yes, but like all the best dessert wines, there is also the necessary acidity to keep the wine fresh and alive. Excellent!

PS I have 10 places only left for the super Bodegas Castaño Dinner and Concert at the Swiss Hotel Friday 8^th May. The Castaño wines have been selected to be paired with the super four-course Swiss Hotel dinner; and the beautiful music will be performed by the equally beautiful Dolce Divas (www.dolcedivas.net). If you would like to secure some of the last few places, please contact me asap! Please call 629 388 159 or e-mail colin@colinharknessonwine.com

PPS please remember to regularly visit www.colinharknessonwine.com where you’ll see the Events Page, the Blog etc. Also you’ll be able to see and hear my comments on various wines by weekly visits to www.youtube.com – search Colin Harkness On Wine.